South Sudan’s exiled opposition leader Riek Machar |
By Our Correspondent,
JUBA South Sudan
South Sudan’s exiled opposition
leader Riek Machar is expected to return to Juba on Monday ahead of crucial
talks with President Salva Kiir Mayardit on the number of states.
Machar has
been based in neighbouring Sudan since 2018, as he engages in meetings with
Kiir on pending tasks amid growing global pressure as a deadline looms in
February to form a unity government.
The civil
war has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee their homes,
prompting the international community to rank the country as Africa’s biggest
refugee crisis.
“Machar will
return to Juba on Monday. We have been invited by IGAD [Intergovernmental
Authority on Development] to attend a meeting on the number of states and their
boundaries in Juba,” Pouk Both Baluang, the SPLM-IO's director for information
told reporters Sunday.
The
opposition official further said South Africa’s Deputy President David Mabuza,
who facilitates the talks on the number of states, will hold a meeting with
Machar in Juba next Tuesday.
“Our members
who are part of the Independent Boundaries Commission (IBC) will participate in
the meetings that will kick on 15 January. Our team in Juba would also submit
our position paper on the number of states and their boundaries,” he said.
According to
Pouk, former vice president Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir will hold
another follow-up meeting to discuss all the outstanding issues of the security
arrangements and the way forward.
“The SPLM-IO
has observed that the government forces are not moving to the designated
military training centres, so this contradicts the peace agreement. The meeting
between the two principals will discuss the training of the unified forces
because time is running out,” he said.
Pouk further
said both sides will also discuss lack of food, water and medical supplies in
several military training camps. “We want to expedite the training of the
unified forces, and our forces are reporting to the military training sites,”
he explained.
The
scheduled meeting between all parties to the September 2018 peace deal comes as
a 22 February deadline approaches to form a transitional government.
However,
steps toward key benchmarks in the peace deal – unifying armed forces and
drawing boundaries of states – are lagging behind schedule. - Africa
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